J’ai eu du mal à aimer la mère de Rosalind. Oubliez ça, je ne l’aimais pas vraiment du tout. Je comprends que vous fassiez tout ce que vous pouvez pour protéger votre enfant, mais j’avais plus l’impression que la reine essayait de protéger son idée de Rosalind en tant que 21e reine plutôt que de protéger Rosalind elle-même. Bien que Rose n’ait pas commencé comme une mauvaise personne, elle était plutôt gâtée et protégée ; cependant, je l’aimais plus au fur et à mesure que le livre avançait. En plus de mûrir, elle a également développé d’autres traits importants, tels que le travail acharné et la compassion, ainsi qu’apprendre à abandonner les préjugés qui lui avaient été enseignés.
Les paroles et les actions des dragons étaient très humaines, et il était parfois difficile de les imaginer faire ce qu’ils étaient décrits comme faisant (comme utiliser un balai, comment ?). Mais ils avaient leurs propres personnalités uniques (dragonalités ?), et j’aimais aussi voir leur croissance.
Comme je l’ai mentionné précédemment, j’avais déjà lu le deuxième livre, Bois-dragon, et s’était demandé pourquoi certains personnages avaient des parties de dragon, comme Rosalind dans ce livre. J’ai apprécié de découvrir comment cela s’est passé, car Rosalind était la première.
Je ne m’attendais pas du tout à un tas de trucs de chasse aux sorcières, mais je suppose que je n’aurais pas dû être surpris. Je pense que ma plus grande plainte était à quel point la fin était abrupte. J’aurais aimé que ce soit un peu plus long, d’autant plus que, soyons honnêtes, le temps consacré à la construction de la relation amoureuse de Rosalind est négligeable. C’est plus un bref indice à mi-chemin du livre de ce qui pourrait être, puis rien après cela jusqu’à ce qui est essentiellement un bref épilogue. Après les expériences des derniers chapitres, je pense qu’il fallait plus qu’une fin rapide pour conclure.
Comment ça finit: (voir spoiler)
After every healer they summoned (without explaining what was wrong) failed to cure Rose, the Queen took her to Demetra to try to remove her claw, but the treatments made it bigger. When they left, Rose took Kit with her to be her lady’s maid. The Queen allowed it because Kit was mute.
A group of knights comes from Empress Matilda to see Rosalind and to make arrangements for reinforcements from Wilde Island in the war against King Stephan. Rose begins to develop feelings for Kye, Lord Godrick’s son, and it appears it might be mutual. But it’s really on the beginning of things–a crush, basically (this was one of my complaints). The men (mainly Kye, who was defending his father) kill the female dragon, and the people celebrate and are very disrespectful towards the body, which bothers both Kye and Rose. The dragon’s mate comes and sort of attacks as he mourns, but his main goal is to retrieve the eggs that his lady were carrying. He says four, but one falls into the ocean. Later, Kye takes Rose to a cave to see a dragon egg shell that he found; they both admire it, though I think they’re each afraid of what the other thinks.
Rose attends a hunt with her father and the Empress’s men. Rose’s horse falls down a ravine, her ankle breaks, and she is attacked by wolves. Kye saves her and pulls her gloves off while trying to attend to her wounds. He sees the talon and doesn’t speak again, though he carries her up to her father. While she is in bed healing, Lord Godrick and his men leave, and so does Rose’s father and his men.
Rose’s mother finally gets her out for May Day, and that’s when Rose is taken by the dragon, whose name is Lord Faul. She is forced to basically be a servant and helps him prepare for the hatching of the eggs. She has to gather milkweed and thistle to make bitter milk for them to drink, as well as clean up after them. She ends up learning the dragons’ language.
Niles Broderick and others try to save Rose, but they are all killed except for Niles. Rose makes a deal with Lord Faul: she will stay with the dragons and never speak to another human as long as he spares Niles and stops eating people. As part of the deal, they fly back to the castle, and Rose tosses her gloves at her mother.
Over time, she develops a sort of connection with the dragons. They all admire her dragon claw and view it as a part of the older sister they would have had if Demetra hadn’t stolen an egg. Kit shows up during a bad storm to try to convince Rose to go home–the king and queen are both dead, her mother is in the dungeon, and Sir Magnus is trying to become king. They are unable to save Kadmi, one of the boy dragons, when he is trapped under a fallen tree. Ore is swept away, and Kit goes after her. Kit was able to save Ore, but she died in the process. Lord Faul dies from grief, despite everything Rose and the other dragons do to keep him alive.
The three remaining dragons return Rose to her kingdom, telling her to take her throne before they fly away to find the other dragons their father told them about. Rose is accused of being a witch and is kept in the dungeon before undergoing a trial, presided over by Magnus, at which many people unexpectedly accuse her of various witchy deeds. She is forced to walk over coals. When her feet haven’t healed in three days, she is about to be hanged. She tries to escape and is grabbed by a Benedictine monk, who turns out to be Kye. He says he has proof of her blood and starts speaking to the people before pulling out Evaine’s scepter, which he had found at Dragon’s Keep when he went searching for Rose (she thought he was going to show everyone her talon). He tells the people to honor their queen, who has given up so much for them to be safe.
Rosalind and Kye are wed and rule together as king and queen. The three dragons return with four others. Eetha pulls off Rose’s gloves, and she, Ore, and Chawl all kiss her talon as the people watch (they end up thinking the dragon’s gave her the talon then). Kye breaks his sword and lays it at the dragons’ feet. So the prophecy about the dragon’s giving a talon and the king laying his sword at their feet comes to pass, thus ending the war between the people of Wilde Island and the dragons. (hide spoiler)]
Remarque : Il y a peut-être eu de légers jurons, mais je ne m’en souviens pas.